D 570 

.8 

.C8 C25 

1918 

Copy 1 



D 570 

.8 

.C8 C25 

1918 

Copy 1 



p 



Hand Book 



on 



Community 
Organization 



(Ajfcy' . >- Issued by 
THE^^STATE COUNCIL OF DEFENSE 

Sacramento, California 
December 1, 1918 



California State Printing Office 

Sacramento 

1 9 1'8 



* \ 



FOREWORD. 



This bulletin has to do principally with the 
methods of organization and gives only a gen- 
eral outline of the work that should be under- 
taken by community councils. Without antici- 
pating the program for readjustment that is 
expected to come from a state conference soon 
to be held under the auspices of the State 
Council of Defense, the first phase of recon- 
struction work as indicated herein is, we believe,^ 
fully sufficient to justify every special effort 
toward community organization. 

The later usefulness and advantage of such 
organization to each community itself also is 
ample reason for this state-wide movement, 
urged by the national government and now 
undertaken in California. 



'^. Of D. 

JAN 10 1919 



WHY COMMUNITY COUNCILS. 



The men and women who are keeping in close 
touch with the undercurrent of social and eco- 
nomic changes in these kaleidoscopic times are 
nearly all convinced that democratic community 
organizations are necessary, especially those or- 
ganized on a uniform basis throughout the land. 

On this subject President Wilson has addressed 
a circular letter to all state councils of defense 
as follows: 

''Your state, in extending its national de- 
fense organization by the creation of commu- 
nity councils, is in my opinion making an 
advance of vital significance. It "will, I 
believe, result when thoroughly carried out 
in welding the nation together as no nation 
of great size has ever been welded before. 
It will build up from the bottom an under- 
standing and sympathy and unity of purpose 
and effort which will no doubt have an im- 
mediate and decisive effect upon our great 
undertaking. You wdll find it, I think, not 
so much a new task as a unification of exist- 
ing efforts, a fusion of energies now too much 
scattered and at times somew^hat confused 
into one harmonious and effective power. 

''It is only by exteaiding your organization 
to small communities that every citizen of the 
state can be reached aiid touched with the 
inspiration of the common cause. The school- 
house has been suggested as an apt though 



not essential center for your local council. 
It symbolizes one of the first fruits of such 
an organization, namely, the spreading of the 
realization of the great truth that it is each 
one of us as an individual citizen upon whom 
rests the ultimate responsibility. Through 
this great new organization we will express 
with added emphasis our will to win and our 
confidence in the utter righteousness of our 
purpose." 

It is obvious that when the President wrote 
this letter he had in mind not only community 
organization to aid in helping win the war but 
also for the greater and broader purpose of 
''welding the nation together." 

That alone is reason enough for all the effort 
and energy that all of us in California may put 
into the present campaign for community organ- 
ization. 

It is necessary also that every community 
organize in order to be better prepared to receive 
our soldier boys when they return from the 
camps and the trenches. 

It is necessary, too, that every community 
organize to perform its share of human kindli- 
ness to the millions of stricken people in the 
war-shocked districts of Europe and Asia. 

Every community should likewise organize in 
order to help solve the social and economic prob- 



( 4 ) 



lems that come with the reconstruction and read- 
justment period following the war. 

They should organize in order to bring to each 
of themselves and their posterity the greater 
blessings of liberty that are promised to all man- 
kind out of the war's seething cauldron. 

And so, also, there should be in every section of 
California an increased community spirit and 
pride, a more fervid community zeal and enthu- 
siasm, a greater quickening of community con- 
science, and a keener spirit of community devo- 
tion and neighborly brotherhood. 

Now that we know what can be accomplished 
by organized destruction we can look forward 
with confidence to those wonderful and glorious 
things that can be accomplished by organized 
construction. 

Uniform Plan Necessary for 
Greatest General Efficiency. 

The State Council of Defense has had a care- 
ful and painstaking survey made of community 
organizations in this and other states, and, from 
this survey, it has evolved a broad plan of com- 
munity organization which it believes, when fully 
understood, will meet the approval of nearly 
every man and woman interested in this vital 
work. 



( 5 ) 



The chief function of the State Council of 
Defense toward the community organization will 
be that of service. After its organization the 
destiny of every community council, for better 
or for worse, will be left almost entirely to the 
people in its community district. 

It is not the policy or intention of the State 
Council of Defense to govern the community 
councils. Each community council will be sov- 
ereign in itself. The State Council of Defense 
will, of course, promote them, establish them on 
a uniform basis, give them official standing, ren- 
der technical and wholesale services to them, and 
mediate between them on the one hand and the 
state and national governments on the other. 

The state council will also supply the commu- 
nity councils with all sorts of information. It 
will keep them in touch with all important state, 
national and international matters. It will assist 
other state departments in getting into closer 
touch with the communities and to be of more 
direct aid to them. 

Above all, the State Council of Defense desires 
to establish the community councils upon such a 
solid and permanent basis that they, and all of 
them, will be in active existence long after the 
State Council of Defense and the Council of 
National Defense may have become mere matters 
of history and generally forgotten. 



( 6 ) 



Community Councils Defined. 

The appellation ''community council" has, 
during the war, been generally applied to local 
war organizations. But it is no longer coniined 
to so narrow a meaning in California. Here it is 
applied to the very broadest form of community 
organization. 

In the country districts it will combine all the 
advantages of farm centers and the like with the 
advantages of civic centers, as well as all addi- 
tional matters that may be of local interest or 
that may tend to local advancement and better- 
ment. In cities and towns the community 
council will combine the community center idea 
together with the plan of community councils 
outlined by the Council of National Defense as 
well as all other matters of community improve- 
ment and betterment. 

In a word, a community council is an organi- 
zation prepared and ready to perform special 
and particular service for its community, and 
possessing, at the present time at least, peculiar 
facilities and opportunities, through the county 
divisions, the State Council of Defense and the 
(Council of National Defense, to put the busy 
clerk, business, professional and laboring man 
and woman in the city and the busy farmer and 
laboring man and woman in the country into 
closer personal touch with all the good things, 
with all the vital things, with all the pulsating 



(7) 



possibilities and opening opportunities that may- 
be of local or personal interest. It will also pro- 
vide an everyday outlet for community expres- 
sion and community initiative. 

* ' Community Day. ' ' 

Upon request of Chas. C. Moore, Director of 
the State Council of Defense, Governor Wm. D. 
Stephens has appointed Friday, December 27, 
1918, as ''Community Day." There are approx- 
imately five thousand communities in California, 
and it is expected that a community mass meet- 
ing will be held in every one of them on ''Com- 
munity Day." Every member of every commu- 
nity should lend his or her best effort to make 
that mass meeting a success. Literary and 
patriotic exercises can be held along the line 
indicated later in this pamphlet. 

Plan af Organization. 

In every county, upon recommendation of the 
chairman of the County Division of the State 
Council of Defense, there has been appointed 
a county committee on community councils. 
Usually this county committee consists of five 
persons : two women and three men. The chair- 
man of this county committee, by virtue of his 
office, has been made a member of the county 
division. Where there is a county Farm Ad- 
viser, he also has been added to the committee. 



(8) 



The principal duties of the county committee 
on community councils are : 

(a) To divide the county into community dis- 
tricts, convenient for the residents of 
each district and small enough so that the 
child, the housewife and the plain man 
can fully take part in the activities of 
every local council. 

(h) To appoint a local temporary chairman for 
every community district. 

((;) Where advisable, to appoint county field 
deputies to assist the local chairmen in 
their general program. 

(d) To see that every local chairman prepares 

for the mass meeting in his or her com- 
munity on '^ Community Day." 

(e) If any local chairman fails to do his duty, 

to remove him and appoint some other 
active person in his place. 

(/) To assist local chairmen in preparing for 
the said mass meeting and to enlist the 
aid and co-operation of every other state 
and local organization. 

(g) Where active farm centers and community 
organizations already exist, the county 
committee will endeavor to have these 



(9 ) 



existing organizations co-operate with 
and join in this state-wide plan because 
of mutual aid and benefit. Many have 
already voted to join. If the existing 
organization is entirely out of line with 
the principles upon which this state-wide 
plan is based, then the county committee 
will endeavor to have the members of 
that organization reconstruct or revise 
it so that it may take up this broader 
work. 

(//) To otherwise assist and aid in making every 
community council in its county a per- 
manent success. 

The Local Temporary Chairman. 

In every community-district a chairman is 
appointed to look after all preliminary matters 
of local organization, and prepare an adequate 
and suitable program for the community mass 
meeting on "Community Day." His office is 
temporary and ends with the mass meeting. In 
order that the community council shall be fully 
and completely democratic, it is necessary that 
it regularly elect its own permanent officers. 

If the man or woman acting as local chairman 
is a suitable and proper person for permanent 
chairman, he or she will probably be so retained, 
])ut no temporary chairman should be continued 
in office who has been inactive and sluggish in 

(10) 



the preliminary work and who is not disinter- 
estedly working for the good of the whole com- 
munity. 

Where farm centers or other community or- 
ganizations already actively exist, it is not neces- 
sary to hold an election of officers, for they iiave 
doubtlessly already been elected by their respec- 
tive organizations. This naturally is a matter 
for each community to decide for itself, keeping 
always in mind the best interests of its particu- 
lar community. 

Every man, woman and child in every commu- 
nity, no matter his race, citizenship, or social 
condition, is entitled to membership in the com- 
munity council. Disloyalty should be the only 
cause for rejection. Existing organizations 
which do not provide for membership and active 
participation of every such person in their re- 
spective communities should be reorganized in 
keeping with these broader principles. 

In Cities and Towns. 

As stated heretofore, the organization in 
cities and towns will combine the idea of com- 
munity centers with the plan for community 
councils of the Council of National Defense, to- 
gether with every other broad feature and factor 
of community improvement and betterment. 

The work of reconstruction will be especially 
important in the cities. Immediately after or- 

( 11 ) 



ganization, the community councils in the cities, 
as in the country districts, will probably be 
requested to make an immediate survey of their 
respective districts in order to gather full infor- 
mation and data regarding men who have gone 
into war service. 

Naturally, community work in the cities will 
be somewhat different from that in the country. 
It will need to be more intensified along humani- 
tarian lines. There will be perhaps greater 
opportunities for social work, with a likelihood 
of greater permanent results. At the same time, 
it will require more energy, patience and perse- 
verance on the part of local leaders. While most 
of the suggestions contained in this bulletin may 
be used in the city communities, yet it naturally 
follows that all of them will not apply, just as 
some of the suggestions herein contained will not 
be practical in the small towns and country 
districts. 

Above all, we must endeavor to engender a 
greater community spirit in the city districts. 
From the standpoint of democratic ideas it is not 
right that families should live for months, and 
sometimes years, in the same block, and even in 
the same house, without knowing each other. 
The dangers of the war have brought men and 
women closer to each other, and this feeling of 
renewed comradeship should be cemented by our 
community organization. Oftentimes it is only 

( 12 ) 



necessary that we become acquainted with 
people in order to appreciate them more fully. 

In Country Districts. 

As stated before, our plan for the country 
districts will combine the idea of the community 
council, as outlined by the Council of National 
Defense, with the general idea of the farm 
bureau, already in existence in many country 
districts in California, together with many other 
features that will tend to broaden the scope of 
community advancement and enterprise. The 
people in the country are asked to form these 
local organizations not only to meet the prob- 
lems of reconstruction and social and economic 
readjustment during the period following the 
war, but also in order that they may unite for 
mutual, social and commercial benefit. 

Official Name. 

It will be necessary for every community to 
select a name for its organization, preferably the 
name of the school district in which it meets, or 
some other designation that will indicate its 
location in the county. The official name of an 
organization will be "Community Branch." 

In other words, if a community in Imperial 
County should s^^lect the name of "Lincoln," 
after the name of its school district, then the 
official name of that community council would 
be "The Lincoln Community Branch of the 

( 13 ) 



Imperial Division of the State Council of De- 
fense." This does not mean that community 
councils will be especially directed by the State 
Council of Defense. This official name is adopted 
principally so the community council will have 
official standing not only with the State Council 
of Defense, but also with the Council of National 
Defense. 

Charter. 

As soon as the community council organizes, 
votes to assume such official title, and elects 
permanent officers, a charter will be issued to it 
from the State Council of Defense. This charter 
will signify the official standing of the commu- 
nity council and may be revoked by the State 
Council of Defense if the local organization 
should become inactive. 

Existing community organizations will like- 
wise be given a charter upon their voting for- 
mally to join in this state- wide plan. 

To Local Temporary Chairmen: 

As soon as you have replied to the circular 
letter from the State Council of Defense, accept- 
ing the office of local temporary chairman, a 
Commission of Service from the State Council of 
Defense will be issued to you. This commission 
will be printed in such manner as to be suitable 
for framing and then to be hung in your home 
or office. 

( 14 ) 



Your cliief duty is to prepare for the mass 
meeting on "Community Day." The matter is 
so important that it is worthy of your every 
effort and most careful thought and considera- 
tion. We suggest that, immediately upon your 
acceptance, you appoint a committee on arrange- 
ments of three or more persons whose duty will 
be to assist you in your general plan for the mass 
meeting and for the permanent organization of 
your community council. A program committee 
should also be appointed to prepare a program 
for ''Community Day." It will be necessary 
for your committee on arrangements to provide 
a meeting place, preferably at a convenient 
school house and to do all other things necessary 
to make the mass meeting and local organization 
a continued success. You can, of course, appoint 
such other committees as you deem advisable. 
Naturally, you are responsible for the success or 
failure of the enterprise in your community. 

But do not expect too much at the start. It is 
better that your organization start slowly like 
a locomotive and increase the momentum rather 
than to proceed in an invei^e manner. 

The Mass Meeting. 

We think it best that the general program in 
each community on "Community Day" depend 
mainly upon the character and quality of the 
talent in that locality. It should be left largely 
to the committee on arrangements and the com- 

* (15) 



mittee on program to decide just what literary 
and patriotic exercises should be held. The local 
chairmen and these committees will know best 
what appeals to the people of their particular 
community. 

We would suggest, however, that a Four- 
minute Man, or other speaker for the evening, 
be procured. Also a song leader for community 
singing, and that some minister or priest, or 
other proper person, be asked to utter a prayer 
during the evening for the men who have fallen 
in this great fight for democracy. In addition, 
an American flag should be unfurled. 

Let us urge upon every local chairman and 
committee to be careful not to make the evening 
exercises too long. A long, drawn-out meeting 
is one of the surest ways to cause a loss of 
interest in the organization. Let it be short and 
''snapp3^," beginning promptly and not extend- 
ing over an hour and a half. An hour would be 
even better. 

The only urgent thing that the State Council 
of Defense asks of you is that a permanent 
organization be effected in your community on 
"Community Day." Elect your president, vice 
president, secretary and other officei's and decide 
upon an official name. 

But do not attempt to complete your full, 
official and detailed organization at this first 
meeting. 

( 16 ) 



SUGGESTIONS FOR PERMANENT 
ORGANIZATION. 

As stated above, the president, vice president 
and secretary should be elected at the mass 
meeting on '' Community Day." As soon as 
possible thereafter, if the local council deems it 
advisable, a constitution and by-laws should be 
adopted, the details of which the State Council 
of Defense prefers to leave entirely to each indi- 
vidual community. Upon request, however, the 
state council will furnish suggestive outlines 
for constitution and by-laws and give such other 
information and assistance as is requested. 

As soon as the state council is notified that the 
community council has been so organized, and 
has also been furnished with the names of the 
above mentioned permanently elected officers, a 
charter will be issued and official Commissions 
of Service will be sent to the elected officers. 

Where the farm bureau or existing community 
organization has already selected its officers and 
has voted to come in under our state-wide plan, 
it is only necessary to notify the State Council 
of Defense that a formal vote on a resolution 
or motion to that effect has been duly passed. 
The names of existing officers should also be 
sent, whereupon a charter will be issued to the 
local organization and Commissions of Service 

( 17 ) 



sent to the officers. In this manner, these 
already existing organizations will receive offi- 
cial standing and become linked with the whole 
national system. 

As soon as the permanent chairman receives 
his commission, he will be expected to appoint 
a Community War Board consisting of local or 
communit}^ heads of all war activities; such as, 
Red Cross, Food Administration, Women's Com- 
mittee, Four-minute Men, Liberty Loan, Stanis- 
laus Plan, War History, Nonwar Construction 
Board, War Savings, Library Bureau and the 
like. The chairman of the community council 
will be chairman of the Community War Board 
and all the work of the community pertaining 
to the war will be under the supervision of this 
board. It will correspond in the community to 
the County Division in the county and the War 
Advisory Cabinet of the State Council of 
Defense. 



We also recommend that each community 
council appoint a board of directors as soon as 
possible, consisting of from three to ten persons, 
not less than one-third of the number to be 
women. This board should also include at least 
one representative from the school board of 
trustees. 



( 18 ) 



After a consultation with the chairman of 
your County Division and the county represent- 
atives of the War History Committee and the 
Nonwar Construction Committee, the chairman 
of the community council should appoint a local 
committee who will at once begin a community 
survey : 

First, under the supervision of the War His- 
tory department to gather vital statistics re- 
garding every man who has gone into war 
service from that community. 

Secondly, under the supervision of the Nonwar 
Construction Committee, the name of which com- 
mittee may be later changed, to gather informa- 
tion regarding the employment and the oppor- 
tunity for employment for every man in service 
who will return to that community. 

This will be one of the most important early 
functions of the community council and should 
be carried out promptly and effectively. 

In country districts, especially where commu- 
nity councils are newly organized, a committee 
should be appointed to confer with the Uni- 
versity of California: 

(a) First, through the County Farm Adviser, 
for the purpose of bringing to that com- 
munity the splendid advantages of the 
Farm Bureau System. 
( 19 ) 



(&) Secondly, with the University Extension 
Division, for the purpose of bringing to 
the community the excellent opportuni- 
ties for education and knowledge avail- 
able through that department in the 
form of lectures and correspondence 
courses. 



Americanization on broad lines should also 
receive attentive consideration, and the local 
chairman should, at his earliest convenience, 
cither personally or through a special committee, 
confer with the county representatives of the 
State Commission on Immigration for the pur- 
pose of actively assisting in this important work. 

During this coming winter and spring, special 
stress should be given in every community to 
the production and conservation of food. The 
demand in Europe next spring and summer for 
every kind of food will probably be greater than 
ever before. While it will be undoubtedly profit- 
able to America, it is at the same time our duty, 
profitable or not profitable, to help feed those 
millions of starving people. 

Let us especially admonish every community 
council to refrain from the discussion of politi- 
cal and religious subjects, particularly such as 
single tax, prohibition and similar topics of dis- 

( 20 ) 



cussion which do not tend to increase the spirit of 
comradship and brotherly feeling among men and 
women. Every person is entitled to his convic- 
tion, but the community council is not the place 
for him to try to thrust that conviction upon 
his neighbors. 

Furthermore, every community council should 
encourage thrift, economy and enterprise. At- 
tention should be given to bringing special 
advantages to the children in the neighborhood, 
such as elementary lessons in draAving, painting, 
dancing, music and the like. The safeguarding 
of local health conditions, the relief of families 
of men in national service, fire protection, labor 
and industry, the development of local resources, 
development of better marketing conditions for 
the people in the community, the co-operative 
purchasing in country districts of well-bred 
stock, fertilizers, etc., the general improvement 
of social and economic conditions, and numerous 
other things should be given careful considera- 
tion. 



The State Council of Defense, together with 
its county divisions, will always stand ready to 
give every possible service upon request from 
the community councils. Heretofore the State 
Council of Defense has been concerned with the 
problems of war and with the efforts, sacrifices 
and trials which inevitably accompany them. 

( 21 ) 



Now we look forward to a hopeful future, and 
while the local organizations have been import- 
ant in the past, they will continue to be even 
more so in the future. We are convinced that 
for lasting and permanent benefits community 
councils furnish the best means for community 
expression and community initiative. They can 
always be real safeguards against the danger to 
democracy. 

And so, as the future holds alluring prospects 
for California, we are now organizing to make the 
most of these opportunities. 



< 22 > 



STATE COUNCIL OF DEFENSE 

GOVERNOR WILLIAM D. STEPHENS .Chairman 

CHARLES C. MOORE. _ -. Director 

HON. FRANK P. FLINT Associate Director 

WILLIAM V. COWAN, Secretaiy and Commissioner. Community Organization 

ADVISORY WAR CABINET 

Charles C. Moore, Chairman Director State Council of Defense 

Hon. Frank P. Flint Associate Director State Council of Defense 

Wm. Sproule Member of the Executive TJuU 

Mortimer Fleishhacker Member of the Executive Unit 

P. H. McCarthy Member of the Executive Unit 

Ralph Merritt Food Administrator 

Albert Schwabacher Fuel Administrator 

James K. Lynch Chairman Liberty Loan War Committee 

Wm. V. Cowan State Director Four Minute Men 

W. T. Boyce Director Employment U. S. Dept. of Labor 

Arthur P. Will Director U. S. Public Service Reserve 

R. F. Hammatt U. S. Forest Reserve 

Prof. B. F. Crocheron Federal State Director U. S. Boys Working Reserve 

Dean T. F. Hunt '. Representing U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 

Warren OIney, Jr California Military Welfare Commission 

B. F. Schleslnger War Savings Stamps 

R. R. Perkins Y. M. C. A. 

S, J. Lubin Chaimian Americanization Movement 

A. B. C. Dohrmann Acting District Manager American Red Cross 

H. G. Butler U. S. Power Administrator 

Mrs. Herbert Cable... State Chairman Women's Committee 

Gen. J. J. Borree Member of the State Council of Defense 

M. J. Ferguson State Librarian 

Albert E. Carter War Camp Community Service 

Dr. John F. Slavich Representing Knights of Columbus 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

Chas. C. Moore Edward A. Dickson 

Senator Frank P. Flint Dr. Benjamin ide Wheeler 

William Sproule J. S. Chambers 

Mortimer Fleishhacker Ralph P. Merritt 

P. H. McCarthy Marshall DeMotte 

Mrs. Herbert Cable General U. S. Webb 

Alden Anderson Chester H. Rowell 

Austin B. Fletcher Gen. J. J. Borree 

THE MEMBERS OF THE STATE COUNCIL OF 
DEFENSE OF CALIFORNIA 

Chas. C. Moore Hon. J. 0. Davis Miss Ethel Moore 

John S. Chambers Marshall DeMotte John A. O'Connell 

Hon. Alden Anderson Edward A. Dickson Chester H. Rowell 

John A. Britton Dr. George E. Ebright Wm. Sproule 

Chas. H. Bentley Mortimer Fleishhacker Or. James A. B. Scherer 

Seth Brown Austin B. Fletcher Mrs. Shelley Tolhurst 

John J. Byrne Hon. Frank P. Flint Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler 

Gen. J. J. Borree Dr. John R. Haynes General U. 8. Webb 

Ralph W. Bull Hon, P. H. McCarthy Dr. Ray Lyman Wilbur 

Mrs. H. A. Cable B. B. Meek Edward Doheny 

G. A. Davidson Ralph Merritt 

The chairmen of the various County Divisions and the chairmen 
of community councils are the local ofladal representatives of the 
State Council of Defense and of the Council of National Defense. 



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